PRINTING.
[Sidenote: The process.]
Having his negative, the next thing our student will want to do is to
print from it; but before doing so, it will be necessary to decide upon
the process he will use.
This is a question of great moment, and one which will here be considered
on purely artistic grounds. [Sidenote: Silver prints.] When first we began
photography, we printed in all sorts of ways; but silver printing, on
account chiefly of its unpleasant glaze, was soon discarded. [Sidenote:
Platinotype.] Then we prepared some ordinary drawing paper, and printed on
that, till one day we saw an album of views printed in platinotype. Their
beauty acted like a charm, and straightway we took to platinotype. Still
we felt that for portraiture, a red colour gave a truer impression.
[Sidenote: Carbon.] So we tried carbon, and practised it when necessary.
Even now, when we look back on those days, we remember the intense
pleasure carbon printing gave us. [Sidenote: Platinotypes.] In the year
1882, when we first exhibited at Pall Mall, we sent four platinotype
prints, and two silver prints. At that exhibition there were only three
other exhibits in platinotype. Immediately after that exhibition we
determined to give up all methods of printing except platinotype, and we
have since steadily by example and precept advocated that process. When we
were brought into contact with artists, and learned something of art, we
knew the reason of what we had instinctively felt to be true. And now,
after much experience and careful examination, in many cases in company
with able artists, of all the printing papers and processes to-day
employed, we emphatically assert that the platinotype process is _facile
princeps_. We should maintain this, even if platinotypes were no more
permanent than silver prints, but here again, as in all good things,
simplicity of manipulation goes with excellency, for there is no doubt
that platinotypes are permanent, they will last in good condition as long
as the paper on which they are printed. This fact alone would finally
place the process at the head of the list. Since the introduction of the
platinotype process various papers have been introduced into the market,
with unglazed surfaces, for which the quality of permanency has been
claimed. Several of these are old methods re-dressed, as the
gelatino-bromide and chloride papers. But are these papers permanent? At
any rate they do not give any truer tonality than silver prints, and this
is a fatal drawback. We have examined hundreds of prints on
gelatino-bromide and chloride paper, and they all give false tonality as
compared with platinotype. [Sidenote: Fading of prints.] The
gelatino-bromide paper like all silver prints, whether matt or glazed, is
false in tonality, the blacks are too black, and the whole picture lowered
in tone. Then, again, as to the question of permanency, it is of course
incontestable that silver prints fade, and as regards the gelatino-bromide
paper, experiment has not proved it to be permanent. [Sidenote: Mr.
Spiller on gelatino-bromide prints.] This is what a chemist, Mr. A.
Spiller, says in the Year Book of Photography and Photographic News for
1888; writing on “Bromide _versus_ albumenized paper,” he says, “From the
above considerations it may fairly be conceded that _under the same
conditions_ a bromide print will most likely remain intact longer than an
albumenized paper print; but more than this, I am afraid, with the
evidence at present at hand, we are not in a position to state. In
offering this, it must be understood, that only under equally favourable
circumstances is the bromide process likely to yield results more
permanent than that on albumenized paper, for just as a gelatine plate or
silver print fades when the ‘hypo’ fixer has been imperfectly removed, so
again in the bromide process, if insufficient washing after fixing be
resorted to, the resulting photograph cannot be expected to last long.”
Such was the opinion of every photographer who had thought the matter out,
but we give Mr. Spiller’s opinion since it is that of a specialist in
chemistry. In conjunction with a noted landscape-painter we went carefully
into this question of the different printing processes, for a book we were
conjointly engaged upon was to be illustrated by photographs from our
negatives. We soon determined, on artistic grounds, that there was nothing
that could compete with platinotype. Before deciding, however, we wrote to
a leading producer of gelatino-bromide papers, asking him if he could
guarantee the permanency of prints on this paper. When the answer came it
was evasive and unaccompanied by any guarantee. These gelatino-bromide
papers are to be met with under different names, and though for certain
trade or industrial purposes they may be invaluable, for artistic purposes
they are inferior to platinotype. Carbon, though superior to silver
printing, is still inferior to platinotype, for even when the glaze is got
rid of, the method of the formation of the image, being sculpturesque,
gives a falsity of appearance and an unnatural running together (like
melted wax) of portions of the detail.
[Sidenote: Mr. Willis.]
There is, then, in our opinion, for the art student, but one process in
which to print, and that is the platinotype process discovered by Mr.
Willis. Every photographer who has the good and advancement of photography
at heart, should feel indebted to Mr. Willis for placing within his power
a process by which he is able to produce work comparable, on artistic
grounds, with any other black and white process. We have no hesitation in
saying that the discovery and subsequent practice of this process has had
an incalculable amount of influence in raising the standard of
photography. No artist could rest content to practise photography alone as
an art, so long as such inartistic printing methods as the pre-platinotype
processes were in vogue. If the photo-etching process and the platinotype
process were to become lost arts, we, for our part, should never take
another photograph.
But here it is necessary to warn the student against the remarks of the
platinotype company and many of their admirers, who maintain that for good
prints “plucky” negatives are necessary; and then follows the old story
about “fire,” “snap,” “sparkle,” and Co. As we have already despatched
that gang, we will spend no more time over their funeral. For low-toned
effects, and for grey-day landscapes, the platinotype process is
unequalled, but the “fire,” “snap,” “sparkle” company think such effects
bad, weak, muddy, and what not. Of course, the student will listen to
nothing of this, but try for himself, and when he wants advice, let him
ask it of good artists. We once showed a grey-day effect to a clerk at the
Platinotype Company’s Office, having previously had the opinion of some
first-rate painters upon it; the clerk looked at it critically and said,
“Yes, very nice; but look at this,” and he took us to a frame hanging in
the same room and pointed to a commonplace view, taken with a small stop
in bright sunlight—a view, we believe, of a church or something of that
kind; there was _his_ ideal of what a platinotype should be. The print in
question was about fit for a house-agent’s window. No! Platinotype
printers do not seem to know what a good thing they have. Their paper is
as suitable and as beautiful for soft grey-day effects as for brilliant
sunshiny effects, and it is to be hoped they will soon have their eyes
opened to this fact, and cease to encourage the false notion that good,
ergo plucky, sparkling, snappy negatives are those required for the use of
the paper. The process, however, is not perfect, the only perfect printing
process being photo-etching, as we shall show presently; but of all the
processes for printing from the negative it is the best; of all the
typographic processes it is the best; and it is better than many of the
copperplate processes.
[Sidenote: Cold process.]
Since writing this chapter, Mr. Willis has introduced a great improvement
in his process, by which the print can be developed with a cold solution;
but what is far more important, artistically speaking, the development can
be controlled, for the developer can be applied with a brush, so that
parts can be intensified or kept back at will, and “sinking-in” is
avoided. This is a great and distinct advance.
[Sidenote: Ferro-Prussiate printing process.]
The Ferro-Prussiate printing process, of course, does not concern us, blue
prints are only for plans, not for art.
[Sidenote: Hints for platinotype printing.]
Our printing process, then, is to be platinotype and platinotype only, and
as there is no use in swelling this work with facts already published, we
advise every student to get full directions from the Platinotype Company,
29, Southampton Row, High Holborn, London, and to study them carefully. It
is advisable to arrange the printing so that you are not compelled to keep
the paper any time; get it fresh when required, therefore, and only as
much as you require for immediate use. Before putting it in the box, drive
all the moisture out of the calcium-chloride by heating it on a shovel, or
old tray, over the fire, and dry the box thoroughly before the fire. Dry
also all the printing frames thoroughly before a fire, also the rubbers,
the use of which must not be neglected. Be sure you mix the baths and
developer with pure _boiled distilled water only_, or else you will be apt
to find a fine powder on the prints.
Be very careful not to place the prints in water between the washings.
Above all, never use your dishes for any other purpose. Some
photographers, living in the country, complain that they cannot get up
heat to boil a large enough quantity of developer for 12 × 10 prints.
[Sidenote: Lamps.] We found an excellent heating apparatus in the tin
spirit lamps with treble wicks, supplied by Allen of Marylebone Lane, with
his portable Turkish baths. With two of these lamps we had no difficulty
in heating a developer for 24 × 22 prints. The dish can be supported by
blocks of wood at the four corners, and raised to the height required by
other blocks, or a tripod. The prints when taken from the washing water
should be dried on a clean sheet, and are finally improved by pressing
with a warm iron. [Sidenote: Spotting.] For spotting, India ink is the
most suitable medium. This, it is said, is permanent, and any shade can be
got, but good India ink, like many other articles of trade, is a rare
thing.
[Sidenote: Texture of papers.]
There are different kinds of paper sold by the Platinotype Company for
printing, and the printer will of course choose the texture of paper that
suits his subject. Delicate landscapes and small portraits should be
printed on the smooth papers, while for strong effects, large figure
subjects, and large portraits full of character, the rough papers are more
suitable. [Sidenote: Colour.] The charcoal grey tint of ordinary
platinotypes is apt to become monotonous in book illustration, and it is
as well to vary it occasionally by using the sepia tints; these are quite
suitable for landscapes and certain figure subjects. Directions are given
by the company for producing this colour. A great desideratum is a red
colour for portraiture, and it is to be hoped that Mr. Willis will see his
way to producing a paper on which prints in what is called “Bartolozzi
red” can be obtained. Red, though it does not give such true tonality,
gives a truer impression of flesh and texture, just as sepia often gives a
truer impression of certain kinds of landscape. But of course these tints
must be used with judgment, and no one but a vandal would print a
landscape in red, or in cyanotype. Having now disposed of the question of
the printing process to be used, we must discuss some of the details
incidental to printing.
[Sidenote: Vignetting.]
Whoever introduced the practice of vignetting was no artist, and the
“dodge” was evolved from a misconception of the aims of art, or for
commercial purposes. Its origin is obvious, the idea was taken from one of
the incomplete methods of artistic expression, such as chalk drawing. In
such methods the artist has a perfect right to leave the background
untinted, or only to shade round the head so as to give it relief, but
with a perfect technique like photography, vignetting is useless, nay
inartistic and false, as it destroys all tonality. We get by this method a
softly delicately lighted head, against a sparkling background, the two
are incompatible, and not only that, but the photographer who vignettes is
deliberately throwing away a most effective aid to perfect impression,
namely, the relief effected by the reflected light from his background,
and when you add to this the conventional shape of the vignetted head and
shadows, the result is feeble in the extreme. Here, then, is another false
god which has for years held sway. We ask the student, did he ever see a
vignette painted by Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Holbein, Velasquez, Gainsborough,
or Frank Hals? Such men knew too well the value of a background to throw
it away; they could not have painted a vignetted head. Look at their chalk
drawings, and the case is very different; there they were dealing with an
incomplete method, and kept rigidly within their bounds. In our early
photographic days, we learned printing from an industrial photographer,
who did an extensive business in vignetted heads, and it was a source of
great amusement to us to watch the mechanical application of the vignettes
by the “head” printer. This is of course another source of the mechanical
appearance of ordinary photographs; for by vignetting fifty different
heads a certain uniformity must result, as in a regiment dressed in
uniform, with of course the fatal result, the loss of all individuality,
character, and of course art. The few photographic portraits that we have
seen worth studying were certainly not vignetted. Mrs. Cameron did not
vignette, she knew better. That people demand vignettes and pay for them
is nothing to us, let photographers sell them as they do scraps and
chromographs, and other fancy articles, if it please the childish and
vulgar, but let them not be called works of art, for on the contrary they
are certain indices of bad taste. Vignetting might be admissible in
certain decorative cases in book illustration, as when a landscape
decorates an initial letter, but in pictures for framing, never.
[Sidenote: Combination printing.]
The simplest application of this method is the printing of a cloud into a
landscape from a different negative. Though it is far preferable to obtain
the clouds on the same negative, and this is quite easy in ortho-chromatic
photography, it is, if you use great judgment, admissible to print in
clouds from a separate negative, but this requires an intimate knowledge
of out-door effects, and the clouds must be taken in a particular way.
Printing in clouds is admissible because, if well done, a truer impression
of the scene is rendered. [Sidenote: Cloud negatives.] But the ordinary
way of taking cloud negatives is much to be condemned. The practice is to
point the camera to the zenith if need be, to focus sharply, to to use the
smallest stop, develop and select for final use according to the lighting,
indeed, not always being very particular on that point. But, by elevating
the camera a point of sight is taken different from that employed in
taking the landscape; by focussing sharply, often using a lens drawing
falsely, the clouds are rendered false in tone and false in drawing. All
this an artist detects in a moment, a craftsman, never. The first
necessity, then, in taking cloud negatives is that the point of sight
shall be the same as that chosen for the landscapes; the second that the
clouds shall be so focussed and developed that their tonality shall remain
true; and the third and most important point, that the cloud form shall be
harmonious with the landscape. The very simplest truths of nature are
daily ignored by photographers in the works they exhibit. There are often
three, or even four suns in one landscape, or at least the evidence of
them; mighty _cumuli_ float over lakes where there is no ripple, and yet
there is no reflection; or, as we have seen, reflections of clouds have
been printed in where there are ripple marks; or heavy _nimbi_ lighted
from one direction are placed over _cirro-cumuli_ lighted from another
direction; or, again, a setting sun sinks to rest over wave-broken water
that reflects glints of light from exactly the opposite direction.
[Sidenote: How to take clouds.]
The best way, then, if a cloud negative is wanted, is _to take it at the
same time as the landscape and from the same point of view_, getting as
much as possible the same impression as seen in nature. The exposure must
of course be by a shutter set quickly. [Sidenote: To print in clouds.] We
think the best way of printing in clouds so obtained, is to take a piece
of damp tissue paper the size of the negative, gum it round the edges to
the back of the negative, then with some blacklead and a stump blacken the
sky out when the paper is dry, carefully following the contours of those
objects which stand in relief against the sky with a lead pencil. In this
way you can with marvellous accuracy stop out the sky, and the work being
on the back of the negative and in plumbago, the contours still show the
mingled decision and indecision of nature. The print is then taken, and
afterwards the cloud negative is arranged as desired, the sky-line being
covered with cotton-wool and the rest of the exposed landscape by a black
cloth. No special printing frames are required for this purpose, only one
a size or two larger than the negative you are printing from. Cloud
printing, as we have said, is the simplest form of combination printing,
and the only one admissible when we are considering artistic work.
[Sidenote: Combination printing.] Rejlander, however, in the early days of
photography, tried to make pictures by combination printing. This process
is really what many of us practised in the nursery; that is cutting out
figures and pasting them into white spaces left for that purpose in a
picture-book. With all the care in the world, the very best artist living
could not do this satisfactorily. Nature is so subtle that it is
impossible to do this sort of patchwork and represent her. Even if the
greater truths be registered, the lesser truths, still important, cannot
be obtained, and the softness of outline is entirely lost. The relation of
the figure to the landscape can never be truly represented in this manner,
for all subtle modelling of the contours of the figure are lost. Such
things are easy enough to do, and when we first began photography we did a
few, but soon gave it up, convinced of its futility. [Sidenote:
Rejlander.] Rejlander, though he tried it, soon saw the folly of such
play, and he is the only artist we know of who used it. Mrs. Cameron and
Adam Salomon never indulged in such things that we know of. Some writers
have honoured this method of printing by calling it the highest form of
photographic work. Heaven help them! The subject is hardly worth as many
words, for though such “work” may produce sensational effects in
photographic galleries, it is but the art of the opera bouffe.
[Sidenote: Masks.]
In printing, variously shaped masks are used. There is no objection to
them, but in our opinion they do not in any way improve the subject,
although they do not necessarily spoil it like vignetting.
Besides all these “dodges,” there are machines for producing imitation
enamel portraits in basso-relievo and cavi-relievo, but all such ideas are
false in theory, and the results inartistic hybrids unworthy of any
serious consideration.
[Sidenote: Final.]
Here, then, we come to an end of the subject of printing, and in our
opinion the student should consider himself fortunate indeed in having so
beautiful a method as the platinotype process with which to work.